What if Hollywood Babylon
by Katy M VT
Summary: What if Dean and Jensen switched places? Chapter 3 of 3 up.
1. Switch

What if Dean and Jensen switched places?

Sam and Dean returned to the movie studio after talking to the actor who died who wasn't really dead.

"What are we doing back here?" Sam asked. "No dead person, no case."

"I know," Dean answered. But today when you were doing your geeky research thing, I was getting the lay of the land and found out that all these actors' trailers sit empty at night."

"So?" Sam asked.

"I thought it'd be cool to spend the night here. Besides it will save us money on a motel," Dean answered.

Sam rolled his eyes, but went along as Dean knocked and then entered a trailer after nobody answered.

"There's only one bed," Sam pointed out.

"Go find your own trailer," Dean said.

Sam rolled his eyes once again and headed to the trailer next door.

"That's it for now. We're going to shoot the grave digging scene in three hours," shouted Phil Sgriccia, the director for the current episode, Hollywood Babylon.

Jared and Jensen drifted away. "I don't know about you, but I'm going to catch a couple of hours sleep," Jared said, yawning.

"Me, too," Jensen said and they each headed off to their respective trailers.

Dean heard a banging on the door and woke up in time to see a young woman poking her head in. "We need you in make-up, Jensen," she said and exited.

"She must not have seen me and assumed I was whoever belonged in this trailer," Dean thought to himself and decided it would be best to leave. They didn't have a case here anyway. He emerged to find it was still night. "Must have gotten some wrong info," he muttered. He knocked on the trailer next to his, figuring that was where Sam would have ended up.

He heard a grumpy, "I'm coming." Sam emerged a minute later and headed off to the right.

"Where are you going?" Dean asked.

"Make-up."

"You know we're not really in this movie, right?" Dean asked.

"What are you talking about?" Jared asked.

"Come on, Sam. We have to leave before we get caught," Dean said.

"Get caught doing what? And my name's not Sam," Jared said, getting annoyed. He was tired and he didn't know what Jensen was up to, but he wasn't in the mood.

"Sam, stop messing around. We have to leave," Dean said and he watched Sam roll his eyes, turn around and head off in the opposite direction. He decided to follow him.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Jensen woke up and realized it was morning. He got up and headed out of his trailer where he saw Jared emerging from him. "Did they cancel the shooting last night?" Jensen asked.

"What shooting?" Sam answered.

"The grave digging shoot," Jensen prompted.

"How would I know?" Sam asked.

"Alright. Well, let's go find out about our schedule for today," Jensen said.

"I thought we were leaving. There's no job here," Sam replied.

Jensen looked around and realized that it didn't look right. These weren't their trailers. They were the set trailers. It couldn't be, could it? He decided to see what happened, "Sam?"

"Yeah," Sam answered.

"Crap," Jensen said. Maybe this was all some elaborate practical joke.

"What's wrong, Dean?" Sam asked.

Jensen wondered what he should do. If it was all some sort of practical joke, he didn't want to look stupid falling for it. On the other hand, he really couldn't see how he could have been moved onto the set without waking up. If this was real he couldn't tell Sam he wasn't Dean. He'd probably try to exorcise him or kill him or something.

"Nothing," he said, answering Sam's question. "There is a job here, though. I bet you one of the producers got killed here last night."

"What are you talking about?" Sam asked.

"Did you hear what happened last night?" a girl came up to Jensen and asked. Probably some girl Dean had been flirting with, he decided.

"No, what?" Jensen said, already knowing the answer.

"One of the producers hanged himself from the rafters. Fell right into a scene," she said.

"That's terrible," Jensen said, and the girl walked off to spread the news to others who might not have heard yet.

"How did you know about that?" Sam asked.

"You won't believe me," Jensen replied.

"I can believe a lot," Sam said.

"Yeah, I'm sure you can. I'm just afraid to tell you, but I don't think I have a choice," Jensen said. He didn't want to go any further. He knew what the Winchesters were capable. He played one of them.

"What is it, Dean?" Sam asked.

"That's just it. I'm not Dean. But before you go ballistic, I'm not a demon or a shapeshifter either."

"Then what are you?" Sam asked. His first instinct was to take down this thing that wasn't Dean, but it didn't seem supernatural or evil. He decided to wait for the explanation.

"I'm an actor. I play Dean on TV. None of this is real," Jensen said.


	2. Acting

"I'm an actor. I play Dean on TV. None of this is real," Jensen said.

"What?" Sam asked. "You're crazy."

"No, I'm not. The name of the show is Supernatural and the name of this episode is Hollywood Babylon. The P.A. Walter isn't a P.A. at all. He's the original writer. His contract allows him to come on set. He's mad because Marty, the new writer, changed his script and as far as Walter's concerned massacred it. So, he got hold of some amulet and is bringing back ghosts of people who died on set to kill the people he blames for ruining his movie," Jensen explained.

"And you know all this because you read it in a script?" Sam asked.

"Yeah. I also know what the next episode is about. Folsom Prison Blues. We're going to prison to take care of a ghost in a jail. I don't know all the details of that one, though."

Sam tried to think of a way to prove or disprove this crazy story. "How did you switch places with Dean?" he decided to ask.

"No idea," Jensen answered. "Definitely not in the script."

"Do you have the script on you?" Sam asked. If he did, then that would definitely prove his theory. No way Dean could write a TV script. Plus, it might help him figure out what's going on and get Dean back.

"No, sorry."

"What's your name?" Sam asked.

"Jensen Ackles."

Definitely not like the aliases Dean usually came up with.

"So, is there an actor who plays me?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, his name is Jared Padalecki."

"Well, we have to figure this out," Sam said. "Any idea at all what could be causing it?"

"Trickster?" Dean suggested. We met him a few episodes ago, Tall Tales, a haunted campus that turned out not to be haunted."

"Yeah, I remember. But we killed him," Sam said. "I suppose there might be another one."

"No, he didn't die. He played another trick on you. After you guys and Bobby left the building, the trickster that Dean stabbed disappeared when the actual trickster appeared next to him."

"How do you know that?" Sam asked.

"It was in the script," Dean said.

"So, is the trickster in this episode?" Sam asked.

"No," Jensen admitted.

"Maybe we should concentrate on what's in this episode. Could this Walter guy be doing it somehow," Sam asked.

"I don't see why or how," Jensen answered. "Wait a minute. You and Dean found out that they were using real Anokian chants in the film. Do you think they could have chanted something that did this?"

"Could be," Sam said.

"Is there anyway to reverse if they did?" Dean asked.

"We would need to find out the exact spell they said and then say it backwards."

"We'll need to get our hands on the dailies," Jensen said.

"The what?" Sam asked.

"The dailies. They're the CDs of all the footage shot every day. That's how you and Dean found the chants in the first place."

"OK, well how did we get our hands on them," Sam asked. This could be convenient, knowing certain things in advance.

"I'm not sure exactly. I think Dean was flirting with some girl, but I don't remember her name."

"Well, go start flirting," Sam instructed.

"I'm not really good at that," Jensen said hesitantly.

That stopped Sam short. He had just kind of assumed that this Jensen guy was exactly like Dean. "You're an actor, right? Act like you're good at it. Ac t like Dean."

"Right," Jensen said, knowing that's the way he should have been thinking. He would just get into character and find someone who could lay their hands on those dailies.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Dean walked into the trailer behind Sam and watched him walk to the far chair and sit down. A girl started working on his hair. This was beyond crazy.

"Sit down, Jensen," another girl said to him. Why was everybody calling him Jensen?

"My name's Dean," he said.

Jared rolled his eyes. "If this is supposed to be some stupid practical joke, I'm not falling for it," he said.

Why was Sam acting so weird? Maybe that wasn't Sam? Shapeshifter, demon? "Why is she doing your hair for you?" he asked.

"That's her job. She's going to do yours next…as usual," Jared answered. "Now you're going to get your makeup done."

"Nobody's putting makeup on me. I'm not a chick," Dean protested.

"Would you just cut it out? This is stupid and nobody's falling for this 'I'm Dean' crap," Jared said. This was the dumbest practical joke he had ever heard of. Like anybody was going to believe that a TV character came out into the real world. "Dean's not real, you know," he added for good measure.

Dean sat down and picked up what looked like a script. It said Supernatural on top and Hollywood Babylon beneath. He started reading and realized this was a script for what had been happening the last couple of days. The only reasonable explanation—he couldn't believe he was calling this reasonable—was that he was a character in a movie or TV show and had switched places with his actor. He realized immediately that he needed to keep this information to himself or they would ship him off to a loony bin. He would just try to do this for the next couple of days and if he didn't switch back by then, well then he would have to see how to reverse it. Hopefully Sam was working on this problem on the other side.

"OK, I admit it I was just messing with you. What scene are we shooting next again?" he asked the person who must be Sam's actor.

"The grave digging scene," was the answer.

Dean flipped through the script until he found that scene. Seemed simple enough. Walk through the graveyard, he had a couple of lines about a map and Johnny Ramone's grave. Dig a grave, salt and burn the bones. No problem. He concentrated on memorizing the few lines. Suddenly he felt himself be hit by something. He saw a gummy bear falling to the floor. "What the hell?" he asked.

"Gummy wars," the girl doing his makeup said and picked it up off the floor and hurled it back at Sam. No, not Sam. He would definitely need to find out this guy's name. Another gummy bear came sailing over and Dean caught it and threw it back.

"OK, you're done," the girl said. Dean thanked her and felt bad for not knowing her name. He couldn't very well ask, though. The girls switched places and Dean got his hair done. He was done before "Sam" but since he didn't know where he was supposed to go or what he was supposed to do, he just waited.

Soon they were both done and Dean followed "Sam" out and got into the back seat of a truck with him. He wondered where the Impala was but had bigger things to worry about right now. "What are you doing this weekend?"

"I'm not sure," Dean answered, not knowing what the right answer would be. Dean was spared further conversation when they arrived at their destination.


	3. Reversal

"OK, we're a little behind schedule so we need to get this show on the road," a man said as they got out of the car. Another man came up and handed them both shovels.

"OK, Jensen you walk ahead of Jared while consulting the map and looking for the grave, OK?" the first man asked.

"Yeah," Dean answered. OK, so "Sam's" name was Jared. Dean stood in front of him and glanced down at the map. He noticed it wasn't actually a map. Just a piece of paper with some writing on it.

"Action," the man yelled.

Dean started walking and said, "Man, this map was totally worth the 5 bucks. We should go find Johnny Ramone's grave next."

"You want to burn his bones, too?" Jared asked.

"Bite your tongue, heathen," Dean said.

"Cut," the man, who Dean realized now must be the director, yelled. "Do it again."

Dean wondered why but went back to the starting point and they did it again. "Bite your tongue, heathen," Dean said again.

"Cut," the director yelled. "Let's go again."

Dean figured Jensen wouldn't question the insanity of doing the same thing over and over again and so did it again without complaint. They did it eight times.

"OK," the director said. That's a print. Let's go over to the gravesite."

Jensen followed everybody else until they came to a grave.

"Let's take it from 'You know what I don't get..' " the director said.

Dean recognized that as Jared's line and waited for him to deliver it.

"Maybe they're mad they're making a scary ghost movie," Dean said.

"Is it really that scary?" Sam/Jared asked.

"Cut," the director yelled. "Let's do it again."

Dean inwardly groaned. It was going to take hours to film what seemed like a two minute scene. Between takes they waited for camera reloads. The cameras were repositioned. It was all very frustrating. Finally they finished that part of the scene. "OK, time for the grave digging scene."

Dean took his shovel and started digging.

"What are you doing?" Jared asked.

"Digging the grave," Dean answered.

"Dude, we don't actually dig the grave. What is with you tonight?" Jared asked.

"I don't know. Just tired and not thinking, I guess," Dean said, hoping that would cover whatever blunders he was making. He followed everyone over a few yards to where there was an identical grave, but with a hole already dug. He had to admit this would make life much simpler. They delivered the lines for this scene. Several times again, Dean noticed, and the director yelled cut. As they were headed back to the set in the jeep, the sun began to come up.

When they got back to set, Dean noticed that Jared was heading off set, probably to go to wherever he lived. Dean didn't know where this Jensen guy lived so he decided just to go back to sleep in the trailer.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

"I got the dailies," Jensen announced proudly.

"Great," Sam said, "Let's go watch them.

After watching several hours of tape, Sam finally found the chant that he believed to be the correct one. "OK, now all you have to do is say it backwards and it should reverse the spell."

"Will it work if I say it backwards or do the actors who said it in the first place have to say it backwards?" he asked.

"It will work if either the original chanters or the object of the spell say it backwards. You're the object of the spell, so you can reverse it," Sam explained.

"But does Dean have to say it too?" Jensen asked. He didn't figure there was any chance of that happening.

"No, only one need say it," Sam said.

"Are you sure? I know you're geeky and smart and everything, but…," Jensen trailed off.

"Look, worst case scenario is it doesn't work, right?" Sam pointed out.

Jensen had to agree with that. Sam had written out the chant backwards and Jensen said it. When he finished he said, "Now what?"

"You were asleep when this happened, so you need to go to sleep to reverse it," Sam said.

"OK. This is going to be like trying to sleep when you're a kid and waiting for Santa Clause," Dean pointed out.

"I wouldn't know about that," Sam said.

"Yeah, I guess you wouldn't," Jensen said. Suddenly he felt very sorry for Sam and Dean. He never had before because they weren't real. But now, they kind of were, and they had very sucky lives.

They went back to his trailer and he went inside to sleep. It took several hours, but finally he fell asleep.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Sam decided to just hang out outside the trailer as inconspicuously as possible. Towards evening, someone emerged from the trailer. "Dean?" he asked, hopefully.

"Sam?" Dean queried back.

"Thank God," Sam said. "Where have you been?"

"Apparently the real world and we're TV characters," Dean answered.

"Yeah, so I gathered."

"Did you meet the actor that plays me?" Dean asked.

"Yeah. Did you meet the actor that plays me?" Sam asked.

"Yeah. It's too weird, though. I mean, we don't exist really, do we?" Dean asked.

"I guess not. That means we have no free will, no control over our destiny, nothing," Sam lamented.

"I wish we could pretend this was a dream, but we both wouldn't have dreamt it would we?" Dean asked.

"No, I don't think we would have," Sam said.

"Let's just try to forget about it and do our job," Dean said. He secretly figured they didn't have any choice.

"Yeah, it's in the script," Sam said quoting Jensen.

SSSSSSSSSSS

Jensen woke up and poked his head outside his trailer. It was the Supernatural set, not the Hell Hazers set. He breathed in a deep breath of relief and hoped Dean didn't do anything to crazy while he was here.

The End


End file.
